Questlove pays tribute to late manager

Questlove has written a touching online article about Richard Nichols, the longtime manager of his hip-hop group, The Roots, who died earlier this month.

Nichols passed away following a battle with leukemia on July 17 at the age of 55.

His friend Questlove has now written an article, published on Vulture.com on Wednesday, to pay tribute to Nichols, who managed The Roots from their inception.

The front man writes, “Our culture calls for certain forms of expression in the wake of an event like this… (but) there is no declaration or testimony big enough to fill the life of Rich. But there is a simple statement, and this is it: There is only one Richard Nichols. I know what ya’ll (sic) are thinking: ‘There is only one of each of us.’ But it’s truer than true in this case.”

The drummer recounts their story, from their first meeting when he was a teenager, to the beginnings of The Roots, their disagreements, and finally Nichols’ last moments.

He concludes, “The day before Rich died, I visited him in the hospital. A group of us, close to him, spoke near him, over him, but also to him. Even though Rich was moving out of what we traditionally think of as life, he was there with us. I wondered what was going through his mind, what his internal monologue was. He couldn’t stay out of the fray. He was the fray.

“In Rich’s absence, we’ll go on. What can we do but go on? But we won’t let the world be without him. We’ll keep his mind and spirit alive in our own minds and spirits. Rich was loved, is loved, will always be loved. He will live on in me, in (band mate) Black Thought, in the rest of the Roots, and in every artist and project he touched… To say that there will never be anyone like him is an understatement. He is what he was: the only one.”